From an early age I enjoyed movement very much, especially when I danced. I could feel the air around me and I had the sensation to move through dense air, as if it were water.

This heightened awareness made me move though space in a different way, a conscious way.

When I started to perform on stage at the age of 16 at the Gastaig Theatre in Munich, Germany, people said I had a good stage presence and that I was able to project to the audience.

For a long time, I did not give that fact the attention it deserved.

After having worked with different renowned choreographers in the UK and completing my B.A. honors at the Laban Center for movement and dance in 1997, I started to choreograph professionally myself.

I came across excellent dancers with good technique but something seemed to be missing.

They were not expressing themselves on stage.They were not attracting the audiences’ attention in order to deliver the message. They were not authentic. These dancers lacked stage presence.

But what is stage presence and how do you get it?

The dictionary defines stage presence as : the ability to command the attention of a theatre audience by the impressiveness of one’s manner or appearance. Fellow choreographers and dancers agree, that it is a gift.

It’s something that lights up in you and attracts attention. For some stage presence is like seeing a light through to someone’s soul.

For others it is a gift, a talent few people have and which can only be developed to a certain extent.

I have made it my calling to work with people on developing their stage presence/projection and authenticity through a series of exercises incorporating body, mind and soul.

For me, pushing the ego aside in order to open the door to one’s heart, so that divine energy can flow through you and radiate as well as translating your message out to everybody else, is stage presence. Once obtained, you will realize that there are few emotions that rival it.